The Perfect Night
by Fairyhearts and Lia
Summary: Lia: Lucy is in love with Natsu. She isn't sure if he loves her back. NaLu all the way! This is a birthday present for Fairyhearts, so you might want to keep in mind that this was for her. I am not usually that, um, lovey-dovey...by the way, no matter what the title might imply, this is NOT at all lemonish.


**Well hello there! El here. This is for you Fairyhearts! Happy birthday! Thanks for being such a great friend and always being there for me! Here is your fanfiction. NaLu of course. I wrote it in first person. It was torture but I did it all for you so you'd better love me forever! Hope you enjoy it and I hope you enjoy being a year older ;)**

* * *

"To celebrate Lucy's safe return, I'm going to throw a party! It's going to be formal, so suits for the guys and dresses for the girls," Mirajane announced to the guild excitedly, before turning towards me, "We're so glad to have you back Lucy."  
I felt myself blushing, not with embarrassment but with shame. None of them knew the real reason why I had run away from the guild. They all thought that I had just got lost while I was in the forest. I blushed even harder as the reason began walking towards me.

Natsu hugged me tightly and then grinned at me in his usual amiable way. "We were really worried about you, Luce," he said, "Next time you go on a walk you'll have to take me with you!"  
I felt my stomach flip and my heart start hammering. Damn it! Why did this have to happen to me? I never asked to fall in love with the biggest idiot known to mankind, my best friend, the guy who may break into my house uninvited but who could say the sweetest things sometimes and often had to save my ass. I had to concentrate!  
"Umm," I mumbled, pushing him away slightly, "You're probably right. Where are Erza, Gray and Wendy?"  
I saw hurt flash through his eyes briefly and I had to resist the urge to hug him tightly and never let him go. I felt like an idiot. The very person I wanted to be close to was the person I was pushing away. What was wrong with me?

After all of the "we're so glad to have you back safe and sound" greetings, I saw Makarov heading towards me. To make matters worse, he was sober. He hadn't even had a little to drink. I suppose it was only the morning, but it might have made a talk with him easier if he was drunk.  
"Okay people," Makarov said, "Let me have a little talk with Lucy."  
People that had previously been crowding around me stepped back to let him through. I knew that Makarov hadn't been fooled by my story of being lost. I expected that he wanted to talk to me about the reason why I really left.  
"Alone," he said warningly to the people who still crowded around me, wanting to hear what Makarov had to say.  
The crowd started to leave and Makarov turned to me.

"Let's get down to the point quickly," he started, "I know that you didn't get lost."  
I looked down at my feet, ashamed.  
"You're right," I replied, "I wasn't lost."  
"What happened?" Makarov questioned gently, as if he realised that I didn't really want to talk about it, "Did you run away?"  
"Yes," I mumbled, still looking at my feet.  
"Well," Makarov said, "Why did you run away?"  
I'm pretty sure I mumbled something incoherent that sounded nothing like "Natsu", but Makarov still seemed to know.  
"It was Natsu, wasn't it?" the old man grinned.  
Is it that obvious? I wasn't sure that I had given any indication that I liked him.  
"Did Natsu tell you how he felt about you then?" Makarov continued.  
My head jerked up. Natsu? How he felt about me? What the hell was he talking about? Then I thought about it slightly objectively. This could be a good way to get out of having to explain my weakness for onyx eyes and pink hair. Although, the old man must be delusi0nal because there is no way that Natsu feels that way about me. He treats me the same as he treats all his other friends. Except for Gray, of course, but Gray is an exception. Those two get along about as well as a dog and a cat!  
"Yeah, he did," I lied, hoping that Makarov would be satisfied by that. It seemed he was, because he walked off towards the bar. I sighed. He had to get drunk _after_ he wanted to have a serious talk with me. He really was annoying!

* * *

I stood up and looked towards the clock. It was later than I realised! It was already lunchtime. I scrambled for my things and rushed out of the door, saying a quick goodbye to Erza who seemed to be the only girl left in the guild. It was times like this when I felt jealous of her. All of us other girls had to decide what to wear, get changed and do our make-up in six hours, whereas all Erza had to do was requip into some pretty dress and she was ready for the party. It wasn't fair!

As I walked along the river bank with Plue, I mentally ran through all of my nice clothes in my head, trying to work out what to wear. There was that pink dress. No, that was too outdated. There was the yellow dress. Ugh! Really wrong colour. I don't know why I still had that one. There was the long black dress, but that was too formal. There was the short black one too, but Natsu didn't like that one. I sighed in my head. I had gone through all of my clothes and none of them seemed to work for the party. I grinned as I realised the only other option. Time to go shopping!

Checking my watch, I headed down to the classier side of Magnolia. I had an hour to decide on a dress for the party. I shook my head at the impossibility of it. You can't go shopping for just an hour! I rushed towards my favourite shop, hoping that they had the perfect dress. I headed straight towards the sale rack. I may have had money, but I also had no idea when we were going on our next job and I still had to pay a bit of my rent. I flicked through the items in my size. Too blue, too short, too long, too tight, too strange! I sighed in despair. They had nothing I wanted. A shop assistant walked towards me, a friendly smile on her face.  
"Hi Lucy!" she said.  
"Hi!" I replied, recognising her as the girl who often helped me to choose things when I went shopping in this store, "You're Anita, right?"  
"Yes," she said, almost glowing in pride that I remembered her name. She held me in high regard, because she had always wanted to be a wizard and to join Fairy Tail. In other words, I was her idol.  
"Did you come to help me?" I asked hopefully.  
"Yes," Anita grinned, "Come with me. I have the perfect dress for you."

I followed Anita behind the desk and into the storeroom. She pulled a cloth off a mannequin and I saw the most perfect dress. I had to have it!  
"Hang on a minute," I backtracked, "How much is it?"  
"Oh! That's the reason why it is perfect!" Anita gushed, "It's free!"  
"What?" I was pretty sure that I hadn't heard her right, "It can't be free!"  
"Umm," Anita coloured slightly and looked down at her feet, "Well, it's not exactly legal to sell it here."  
"You stole it?!" I asked incredulously. There was no other reason why a dress couldn't be sold in a shop.  
"No, no!" Anita said shocked, before looking down at her feet again and mumbling, "I designed and made it, so it can't really be sold in the shop. I told the manager that I would find someone to give it to, because I thought that it would be a waste to throw it away."  
"Wow!" I said, amazed at her talent, "It's amazing Anita! You're so talented. I'll definitely take it. It will fit me, won't it?"  
"Oh! It will," Anita assured me, "You were the person I designed it in mind of, so it should be perfectly suited to you."  
"Aww," I said, touched by the gesture, "Although, I can't just take it for free. I'll give you some money for it. It's your money though. It's not for the shop."  
I passed her some money and gratefully took the dress.  
"Lucy?" I turned around and saw Anita sniffling gratefully, "Thank you so much!"  
I smiled at her as she hugged me. Sometimes it was hard being someone's idol.

I hurried home. Somehow, I had actually managed to do my shopping in an hour. I actually had time to get ready for the party! I only had five hours, though, and I still had no idea what to do with my hair. Or what shoes I was going to wear. I sighed at myself. It wasn't like I was trying to impress anybody. Was it? I groaned. I had to ask myself that stupid question, even though I knew that I was in love with a pink-haired idiot who just happened to be going to the party (duh!).

I got into my apartment and placed the bag holding my awesome new dress onto a chair. I walked towards the cupboard and got out a towel. I desperately needed a shower! I walked into my room to get some new soap and found Natsu. Asleep. On my bed.  
"Get out of my bed, you idiotic pervert!" I yelled, but only succeeded in waking up the sleepy Natsu.  
"Huh?" the guy in question said groggily, "What's wrong Luce?"  
I felt my heart flip at the sight of the ruffled pinkette and I couldn't help thinking that he looked really cute when he was sleeping before I got annoyed.  
"You don't just sleep in my bed, you idiot!" I screamed, "You have your own house, don't you?"  
"Your house is way better than mine," Natsu pouted.  
I bit back a smile at his childish manner before saying firmly, "Get out of my bed and get out of my house! I'm trying to get ready for the party. In fact, you need to go get ready too. You should go to Mira. She'll give you something to wear."  
Natsu slowly got out of my bed, rubbing his eyes in sleepiness and looking around for Happy. I sighed at his stupidity and pulled the blue cat out of the end of my bed by the tail.  
"The same goes for you too, you annoying neko!" I said into Happy's face, before tossing him to Natsu.  
"Now, get out!" I said, hopefully for the last time.  
"You're really cute when you're angry, Luce," Natsu said, obviously still not quite awake enough to realise what he was saying. My heart fluttered and I saw him leaning closer towards me. I could feel my head spinning. What if Makarov was right? Maybe Natsu did like me! I had to get my head together before I fainted. Natsu kept moving closer towards me and my heart started beating erratically. If I didn't know that it was impossible, I would have said that it was jumping for joy in a dance around my lungs. Natsu stopped centimetres from my face. His nose twitched and he said, "You smell weird, Luce."

Disappointment rose in my chest, and I felt like crying. I turned away quickly and said in as angry a voice as I could muster, "I hate you! You should never tell a girl that they smell!"  
I heard the door closing and I crumpled onto my bed. I felt insignificant and small and furious with myself for ever thinking that Natsu might reciprocate my feelings. I didn't lie there for that long. I hadn't forgotten that I still needed to get ready for the party. I thought back to my dress. I had originally bought it to impress Natsu, but now I knew that he wasn't going to be impressed I could just make him feel jealous. With that dress, I could get any guy at all. A little voice in my head told me that I could get any guy except for the one I wanted. I sighed dejectedly, all of the fight gone from me. Nothing I could do would make me feel any better. I would just depress myself even more.

I called Cancer to help me with my hair. He twirled my hair into a stylish updo and fastened it with a purple flower to match my dress. Even though I looked amazing, I still couldn't feel too excited about the party. I mean, if I was just going to be sitting there feeling miserable about Natsu then I wasn't going to be properly grateful to Mirajane for throwing it for me. I resolved to at least try to look excited about the prospect of the party. I smiled at myself in the mirror, trying to look somewhat happy.  
"You should try to remember a happy time ebi," Cancer advised from where he was fixing my hair.  
"Thanks," I said, genuinely smiling.  
"That's better ebi," Cancer enthused.  
I sent Cancer back and contemplated his advice. It was good, but I didn't know whether I would be able to carry it through. Most of my good memories revolved around Natsu. I closed my eyes, trying to stop the tears from escaping. I could hardly believe that I had been so naïve as to think that Natsu cared about me in the same way as I cared about him. Now every memory with him was tinged with a feeling of regret and caused tears to fall, unbidden, down my face.

I dried my tears and stood up. Somehow, sometime, somewhere I would have to get over Natsu. How, I didn't know, but I knew that I had to do it soon. I couldn't stay moping for the rest of my life. Not when I knew that nothing was going to change. I looked in the mirror at my tear-stained face and the dead expression in my eyes. Something had to change for me. I couldn't go on being the depressed broken-hearted girl that I could see in front of me. I looked away from the mirror. I knew that healing didn't happen overnight and the pain from today's encounter with Natsu was too raw. I had to do something to change it. I had to tell somebody about how I was feeling. That person had to be Natsu. I didn't know how I knew that the only way to let go of Natsu was to tell him, but it seemed like I had some kind of sixth sense about it or something.

I slipped on my dress and admired it in the mirror. It was strapless and went down to just above my knees. It was a dark purple with black stripes running diagonally across the bodice. The skirt flared out very slightly just above my hips like a purple bell. Black netting reached over the skirt, making the fabric rustle when I moved. The back of it was mostly bare, except for the string that fastened it in a criss-cross pattern all down my back. I smiled at my reflection. With my hair done up like that and my lovely new dress, I certainly didn't look like I was having a bad time. Only my eyes betrayed my false portrayal of happiness. I slipped my black heels on and sat down in front of my mirror again to do my make-up. I tried my smile again. It looked more like a grimace. I sighed. This was obviously going to take a bit of practise.

* * *

I walked into the now completely awesome guild hall. Mirajane really was amazing at this kind of thing. If she wasn't an even more amazing mage, I'd say she probably should have gone into the party planning business. The hall swirled with lights and somehow food seemed to have become plentiful, because there were rows of tables along the side piled with all kinds of food. The tables had been pushed back to make room for a dance floor and it seemed that even Laxus' attitude had been melted and he had agreed to be DJ. I spotted Levy sitting towards the window. I felt sorry for her. Parties weren't really her thing.

"Hey Levy," I said, causing the bluenette to look up sharply.  
"Oh," she said, looking slightly disappointed, "It's you."  
"Of course it's me!" I laughed genuinely, "You weren't expecting someone else were you?"  
I had just been teasing her, but her face turned brick red with embarrassment.  
"N-no, of course not," Levy stammered.  
"Don't be shy, Levy," I said, curious, "Who is it?"  
Levy clammed up, so I decided to change the subject and said, "You look really nice today."  
She really did look nice. She wore a knee-length yellow dress and her blue hair had been scraped back to form a small bun at the back of her head.  
"Thanks," she smiled, "You look really nice too."  
I smiled. For some reason, smiles weren't that hard once you had good reason to be happy. It just didn't stay for that long. I felt my face fall and saw Levy's concerned glance. I tried to think of a way to get out of explaining everything to her, but I didn't need to as her attention was quickly brought towards the door. I looked in the same direction and saw Gajeel looking somewhat smarter than usual and he didn't seem too happy about it. I looked back at Levy. Her whole face had lit up as soon as she had seen him. I couldn't really understand their relationship, but it seemed to have become closer than I had realised.  
"You weren't expecting someone, huh?" I said, raising my eyebrows. Levy looked down slightly sheepishly and I actually laughed out loud. I couldn't remember the last time I'd laughed. "Go on," I prompted, "Go over there!"

Levy flashed me a grin and scampered over to where Gajeel was standing. She tugged on his arm and he turned around. When he spotted her standing there, he grinned and looked happy to be here for the first time. I sighed at myself. Why was it that I could influence other people's happiness but was such a failure at my own? I caught a glimpse of pink hair and quickly turned around, trying to fight the tears that were choking me every time I saw him.  
"Hey Luce!" I heard him greet me.  
"Oh, hi!" I said, my voice becoming high as I tried not to cry, "I'm sorry I really have to go. I have to, um, find Mirajane. She said she had something to show me. Bye!"  
I pushed past him hurriedly, registering the hurt on his face before the tears threatened to come again.

I felt a shock as I banged into someone. I'd been in such a rush to get away from Natsu, I hadn't even been looking where I was going. I looked up to see the friendly face of Elfman looking down at me. His face quickly changed to concern as he saw the expression on my face.  
"Are you OK?" he asked.  
"Oh, I'm fine," I smiled back at him. At least I hope I smiled. Elfman was always so kind to people. It was almost making me cry, except this time with happiness. I am way too emotional!  
"You look great today," I said, trying to change the subject. I wasn't lying either. Wearing a suit kind of suited Elfman.  
"Thanks, I guess," he replied, squirming a little in his outfit, "Mira kitted me out. I think she had suits for almost every guy who came to her for help."  
I laughed genuinely at that. He was right. I could see the familiar uncomfortable face on almost all of the guys' faces. I had a feeling that Mirajane was going to make an entrance soon. The former model was always reliable when it came to dressing up for a party.  
"You can go to her," I nodded at Elfman.  
"What?" he said, blushing.  
"You can go to Evergreen, silly!" I laughed at him again. He'd been watching Evergreen's every move even while he was talking to me.

I walked away, again wondering why I was becoming the resident "love guru" while I couldn't even pluck up enough courage to face the guy I was in love with without bursting into tears. I looked across at Natsu, feeling the familiar choking sensation in my throat. He was staring at Elfman with an expression that I couldn't place. When he finally reached Evergreen, Natsu's expression changed into one of relief. He looked at me again. I averted my eyes and continued on, still trying to work out what was going on in Natsu's head. I had finally recognised that look. It was jealousy.

I reached the bathroom and banged my head against the wall. I couldn't understand him! He had broken into my house multiple times, fallen asleep on my bed, insulted me and now he was jealous because I had a conversation with Elfman? I couldn't work it all out. I groaned as my head tried to process everything. It was just so confusing. However, even though my rational side thought differently, it couldn't dampen the slightest spark of hope that had been created at the sight of Natsu's jealousy.  
"Are you alright, Lucy?" I heard a voice asking from behind me.  
"Oh, I'm fine," I replied, turning to see the friendly face of Mirajane behind me. She must have come in while I was banging my head and I didn't hear her. I must have missed her grand entrance. I was kind of disappointed. She looked amazing.  
"If you want to talk to me, I'm always here," Mirajane assured me, her face still looking slightly concerned. She was probably worried for my mental health. I was, after all, banging my head repeatedly against the wall.  
"I'm OK," I repeated. If I ever told Mirajane what my problem was, the consequences would be that the whole guild would know within a day and that she would try a lot of lame attempts at matchmaking me and Natsu. I shuddered at the thought. I was probably better off at my attempts of ignoring Natsu rather than face the thought of that.

I followed Mirajane outside and tried to blend in with the feeling of having a good time. It wasn't working. I was pretty sure I would stand out like a sore thumb, if it hadn't been for the fact that I was trying not to let anyone see my face. I tried dancing, but dancing on your own isn't exactly much fun. Everyone was dancing with a partner or in a large group. I wasn't doing either. I made my way over to the only other person who didn't seem to want to dance.  
"Was he not able to come?" I asked Erza.  
"Who?" she replied, even though she knew perfectly well that I was talking about Jellal.  
"Surely you invited Jellal," I said, "He was even in the area."  
Erza looked surprised at the news. I cringed to see that the news had saddened her even more. I stayed at her side, feeling in the same mood as her until I had the most amazing idea.

"Juvia!" I got the attention of the water mage through a lot of waving and talking loudly. She was practically drooling at Gray as he did his best "not interested" face while dancing with a girl I didn't even know. Juvia wasn't even paying her partner the slightest bit of attention. I stared at Lyon, wondering when he got there. I guessed that was where the unfamiliar girl had come from. I could see quite a few members of Lamia Scale once I looked.  
"What is it?" Juvia looked suspiciously at me as though I was trying to steal her precious "Gray-sama".  
"Do you still have that contact thing that Meredy gave to you so that she could talk to you sometimes?" I asked. Their friendship was quite amusing. I could remember a time when Meredy had just been a girl and was trying to kill Gray for Ultear.  
"Of course!" Juvia answered.  
"I need it," I said, hoping that she would get my silent message.  
"Oh! Sure!" Juvia obliged as she followed my gaze towards the miserable Erza.

A few minutes later and it was confirmed. Crime Sorciere were coming. I almost whooped with joy, but I didn't want anyone to think that I was a weirdo so I held back. Again, it struck me that I was the one setting up romances when I hadn't even had a proper date with a guy before. Don't get me wrong. I have had dates. They were just awful or confusing or cut short or didn't happen. I almost smiled at the irony of it before I saw him heading towards me. The one who had caused me all of this pain. Natsu. I could almost hate him if he hadn't caught my heart with just one smile.

I hurried towards the exit when I heard Mirajane announcing her game. Little did I know that this would cause me to have both the best and worst evenings of my life.  
"Now," Mirajane said, an excited smile on her face, "This is a party. So it has to have games! I've decided that we are going to have a dancing competition with a twist."  
I turned back at the same time as Mirajane announced the twist and I almost turned around again, but knew I couldn't. Everyone would kill me if I left my own party early.  
"The twist is," Mirajane announced, an evil grin on her face, "That people don't get to choose their partners! Partners will be chosen at random and they will have to work together to create the best image of a couple in love!"  
It was so Mirajane. I could tell that she had been anticipating this ever since she had made the party official. This was going to be utter torture. I wasn't sure I particularly wanted to be dancing with some random guy and pretending we were in love at the same time. I could tell that Mirajane was really going to enjoy the looks of discomfort on people's faces as they were chosen to dance with someone.

I noticed as Mirajane took the pieces of paper out of a jar that she was only taking out one piece of paper before announcing the couple. Amazing, Mirajane. Really clever. What happened to random? She must have worked out the couples ages ago. This really was the type of thing that Mirajane would do. The couples so far had been: Levy and Gajeel, Elfman and Evergreen, Gray and Juvia, Lyon and Cheria (how she knew that Lamia Scale would be there I had no idea), Cana and Laxus and…no. It wasn't possible. Mirajane! How could you?!

I walked onto the dance floor waiting for my partner. Soon enough, Natsu walked up looking slightly sick.  
"I think you should get Wendy to cast Troia on you," I said to him, sounding normal seeing as I was too worried about him getting sick on me to realise that this was the guy who told me I smell bad earlier that day.  
"Good idea," he croaked and walked towards where Wendy was taking her place with Romeo. I sighed with relief. He wasn't going to get sick on me. That was when I remembered. I had to dance with the guy and pretend we were in love. Well, I knew that I was in love with him already so it shouldn't have been so hard if it hadn't been for the fact that I was pretty sure he would never feel the same way about me. My little tendril of hope fluttered to remind me of the jealousy Natsu had shown when Elfman had been talking to me. I pushed that thought away. For all I knew, I could have been completely mistaken about him being jealous.

I spotted Crime Sorciere coming through the door. I quickly scurried over to try to keep it a surprise from Erza. I said a quick hello to Ultear and Meredy before grabbing Jellal's hand and pulling him over to Mirajane. I had been relieved that the girls seemed to have some fashion sense because none of them were wearing their cloaks anymore. It seems that they had even forced Jellal into a suit. I stifled a giggle. He didn't exactly look happy about it. When I got to Mirajane I relayed my message with a meaningful glance towards Jellal and then Erza before running back to where Natsu was standing, looking confused about my recent collaboration with Mirajane and Jellal. I smiled at his face, forgetting my embarrassment towards him. My smile grew even wider as I heard Mirajane announcing the final couple for the game. I could see Erza's shocked face as Jellal stood opposite her, smiling in a way that conveyed the love he felt for her. I could have fainted with the sweetness of it all. I mean, I am a romance novelist. This is what I love. Apart from Natsu. Shit! I'd almost forgotten.

The music came on. Great. It had to be a slow dance. I reluctantly let myself dance with him, resisting the urge to put my head on his shoulder. Instead, to distract myself, I looked at everyone else. Levy and Gajeel were dancing slightly clumsily, but seemed so happy together that I couldn't help but smile. I could guess that they didn't have any trouble with Mirajane's challenge. They were already in love. Elfman and Evergreen were dancing, trying not to look at each other. They were both blushing slightly and when they finally looked at each other I could tell that they had something going on too. Evergreen rested her head on Elfman and they continued dancing, smiling at the battle that they had both won with each other. Gray and Juvia didn't seem very comfortable. Gray was…blushing?! Juvia was also blushing. She seemed to pluck up some courage and whispered something in his ear that made him blush even harder, but seemed to make them dance much better. Gray didn't even seem too bothered when Juvia put her head on his shoulder. Lyon and Cheria were just dancing. It wasn't anything special, seeing as all Lyon could do was stare at Gray and Juvia. Well, it was more likely to be just Juvia. Cheria snapped at him and he looked down at her, slightly ashamed. I smiled in their direction. Cheria was extremely good at getting Lyon's attention back to her, that was sure. Cana and Laxus were drunk. It wasn't that surprising, but it seemed to break down a barrier between them that had always been there before. They were dancing quite well for two drunk people, I suppose. Wendy and Romeo were just being cute. As I knew already, Wendy was very good at dancing and Romeo didn't seem too bad either. They were having a conversation. It wasn't exactly in love, but about as much as kids their age could manage. Jellal and Erza were nowhere to be seen. I wasn't surprised. They probably wanted to catch up with each other. They hadn't seen each other in a while.

I turned my head back to Natsu. There were no other couples for me to stare at now.  
"Luce-" Natsu began, but I interrupted him.  
"Natsu," I began, "I need to tell you something that I should have told you ages ago. I just want you to know that this doesn't have to change our friendship. It's just that I kept hiding this from you and I want you to know, before I go mad."  
"What is it?" Natsu asked innocently. He had no idea what I was going to tell him.  
"OK," I started slowly and began dancing him away from where everyone could hear our conversation, "Well, you've always been a great friend. You've protected me from things, you've fought beside me and you've fought for me. That's what made me realise. You've done so much for me and that has influenced me. It had made me realise that…that I love you. It doesn't have change anything though. We can still be friends. I just wanted to tell you because I had to. It doesn't have to change anything…"

I trailed off as I registered his face. He seemed to be in complete shock. I waved in front of his face, which seemed to break him out of his reverie. He looked at me intensely. I looked back at him, waiting for him to say that everything was going to be OK, that we could still be friends. That never happened. I stood there watching his pink hair running for the door. Running away from me. Running from what I had just told him. I stood there, too shocked to realise that I was crying. Eventually, it stopped. All of the pain faded with me into darkness.

"Lucy!" "Lucy!" "Lucy!" The concerned voices of my friends broke me from my unconscious state. I opened my eyes to see Mirajane, Levy and Erza looking at me, worry on their faces. I groaned and tried to sit up.  
"Hey!" Levy said, "Take it easy. You just fainted."  
I blinked, trying to remember what had happened. I pushed myself up slowly.  
"Can I sit down somewhere a bit more comfortable?" I pleaded.  
"Of course!" all three said at once, looking shocked that they hadn't thought of that. They helped me over to a seat towards the wall. I seemed to have broken up the party a little bit. Ooops!

"What happened to me?" I asked slightly confused about whether my memory was a dream or not.  
"We're not completely sure," Erza started and the other girls nodded their agreement, "You were just talking and dancing with Natsu and then he ran away and you were crying and then you just fainted."  
"So it wasn't just a dream," I said, letting the tears flow freely. There was no point in stopping them.  
"What happened, Lucy?" Levy asked me quietly.  
"I told him," I said as though that explained everything.  
"Told who what?" Mirajane was mystified. I thought that Levy might get it and Erza could probably guess, but Mira was clueless even though she loved matchmaking.  
"I told Natsu," I said without emotion, "That I love him."  
"You _what_?!" Mirajane was shocked. I think she was more shocked about the fact that I couldn't say it with any emotion than the fact that Natsu ran away when I told him I loved him.  
"Afterwards, I said that we could just be friends. I said that it didn't matter. I said that I'd just get over it," I said to make it clear what had happened.  
"Why?" Mirajane was scandalised.  
"He doesn't feel the same way about me," I mumbled, "I pretty much confirmed that when he told me that I smell weird."  
"Lucy," Mirajane said almost despairingly, "Natsu doesn't have any sense of what is right and wrong to say when it comes to girls. He is like a kid really. He just doesn't have very much knowledge in that area of expertise."  
"You make it sound like a job, Mira!" I said half groaning and half laughing through my tears.  
"What I mean is that you can't just presume Natsu doesn't like you because if he does he doesn't know how to show it," Mirajane sighed.  
"Whatever," I said, looking down at my feet, "I don't want to see him or talk to him ever again! He completely ruined my night."

I turned away from them and faced the wall, allowing myself to wallow in my own misery. I knew I was being a bit childish, but I couldn't face anyone at the moment. After all, the boy I loved just ran away from me when I told him how I felt, as though he was repulsed by me. I missed the time before all of this happened. I missed the time when I could look at Natsu and feel the love that friends hold for each other. I missed the time when we could sit there talking in my apartment and it didn't feel weird or make me worry about the implications it held. I missed the time when Natsu would hug me and I'd hug him back without having to worry about what people might say. I missed the time when I first realised that I liked him and he would smile at me and make me fall deeper in love each time. I missed the time before all the pain and all of the doubts. I missed the time when I could still say that I was happy. I missed the time when I could say that I would never become one of those heartbroken idiots that you see in the movies. I missed the time when I didn't know that love can bring pain even more than it can bring happiness.

* * *

"Luce?" I stiffened as I heard the voice. Natsu was back. Why did he have to come back? Did he want to rub it in even more?  
"What do you want?" I said quietly, putting as much venom in my voice as I could. I could never hate him. I could only love him, but sometimes it would be so much easier if I could just blame him for everything and ignore him for a while. Everything would be so much easier that way. We could forget that this ever happened. We could forget my idiotic blunder and be friends again. I wasn't sure what was going to happen with our friendship now.  
"Turn around and talk to me Luce," Natsu pleaded, "Please. Just turn around."  
"Why should I?" I retorted back before biting my tongue, wishing my hate away. My moods were confusing me. One minute I wanted to hate him, but the next minute I felt guilty for being mean to him. It just wasn't fair!  
"Please can we just talk about this Luce?" Natsu asked, his voice cutting shreds through my heart every time I heard it.  
"Fine," I said, giving in to my temptation to see him one more time before I ran away again. This time for good.

I turned around and registered his shock at my tear-stained face. I walked silently out of the door, hoping that he'd follow me. I didn't want to talk to him with everyone else in earshot, especially Mirajane. The nosy barmaid would almost definitely eavesdrop even if everyone else gave us some privacy. I stopped and faced Natsu. His presence so close to me still took me breath away and made my heart beat like a caged bird.  
"Why do you want to talk to me?" I asked despairingly, "Haven't you done enough damage?"  
Natsu looked shocked at my accusation, but seemed to be sorry for what he'd done.  
"Luce," his eyes bored into mine and I had to look away for fear of fainting. Again.  
"What do you want?" I asked again.  
"I wanted to tell you something," he said, his onyx eyes honest and his face betraying some emotion that I couldn't place, "I also wanted to give you something."  
"Just tell me," I said impatiently. I wasn't going to stand out there to wait for him to say whatever it was he wanted to say and make me freeze while doing so.  
"I-I wanted to tell you," Natsu swallowed nervously, "That you got to what I was going to say before me."  
"What?" I was really confused now.  
"When you told me that you loved me during the dance you cut through me," Natsu said, "What I was about to say is that I feel that way about you, too."  
"You cannot be serious!" I was getting annoyed now. This couldn't be happening. "Who set you up to this?" I yelled, "You don't just run away from a girl when she tells you that she loves you and then miraculously come back and tell her that you feel the same way! Mirajane! Did she set this up?"  
I stomped towards the guild, ready to slap Mirajane right into tomorrow. There was no way I was going to let her ruin my night even more by making Natsu make a false confession of love to me.

I felt a hand on my arm. Again, I responded to Natsu's touch with the annoying heart racing, butterflies in the stomach rigmarole.  
"Luce, wait," Natsu pleaded with me, "It's not like that. Mirajane didn't make me do anything."  
"Then who did?" I turned around to face him. The hurt in his eyes from my reaction assaulted me and I stumbled back a step. "It was true? I whispered, "You were telling the truth?"  
Natsu nodded wordlessly. He opened his palm and held something out to me. I saw the flash of gold in the moonlight. I picked up the necklace, touched at its beauty.  
"For me?" I asked, hope shining in my eyes.  
"Of course it's for you, Luce," Natsu looked at me, "Everything I do is for you. I love you."  
The simple words resounded in my head. He loved me. Natsu loved me. It wasn't a trick of my imagination. He actually loved me! I looked back down at the necklace and saw the words confirmed again there. "I Love You Luce" was inscribed on the back of the gold disc hanging from the chain.

"N-Natsu," I whispered, my voice quavering with emotion, "I love you too!"  
I looked up, tears in my eyes because of my happiness. I flung myself at him and let myself be wrapped in his arms, feeling safe and protected. The joy I felt couldn't be described. I knew that whatever happened, Natsu loved me. That was enough to keep me happy for a lifetime. I pulled back for a second, and asked him something on my mind.  
"Where did you get the necklace, Natsu?" I asked.  
"Remember that job we did for the jewellery store where we had to retrieve some jewellery?" Natsu asked. I nodded. "The owner made that for me as a thank you present. He told me that I should give it to you as soon as possible, but I could never pick up the courage to, until now."  
I smiled at him. That mission had been ages ago. That was just around the time I had realised that I held feelings for Natsu. It was at least a few months ago. He'd loved me for that long. He'd had it written on a necklace.  
"Hang on a second," I said, remembering something, "Why did you run away from me and why did you tell me that I smell weird?"  
Natsu laughed. I loved his laugh. In fact, I loved everything about him. Even his flaws.  
"Well," he said, "I ran away to get the necklace for you."  
He picked up the gold in my hand and tied it around my neck. He twisted me around and looked me full on in the face.  
"And I insulted you because I was going to kiss you and then I chickened out," he finished, pulling me closer to him.  
"Well," I said, pretending to be in deep thought, "We're both here now. We both love each other and you gave me a necklace to prove it. Are you still too scared to kiss me?"  
He laughed and pulled me even closer, his face tantalisingly close. He leaned in closer and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around him and-

That was when I heard the cough. Me and Natsu broke apart, blushing slightly. We turned to see almost all of the guild, standing there watching us.  
"You can do all the lovey-dovey stuff later," Mirajane said impatiently, "We have a party to celebrate and it seems that Lucy's return isn't the only thing that needs celebrating. Come back inside and let's have some fun!"  
I looked at Natsu, a playful smile on my face. I pulled him back inside and we all had fun. We danced, we ate, we danced some more and I even think that there were a few other couples made official that night, seeing as I saw quite a few dance partners walking around holding hands. It was the perfect night. The night all of my dreams came true.

* * *

**So? Did you enjoy it? I hope you did. If anyone apart from Fairyhearts read this, you can review! Anyway, I'm glad if you liked it. If you didn't, prepare to die a slow and painful death by pencil! Just joking!  
El :)**


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